It is known to vulcanize uncured or green tires using a mold in a tire press. A tire bladder is inserted inside the mold and the green tire and inflated to press the green tire into the sidewall and tread forming surfaces of the mold as heat and pressure are applied to the tire to cure it. After a predetermined time the mold is opened and the cured tire is removed from the press.
Because of the lack of control inherent to toroidal expansion of a tire carcass in conventional tire building processes, it has been proposed to build a tire from components applied to a segmented core dimensioned and configured close to the finished tire. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/292,991, entitled “TIRE BUILDING CORE LATCHING AND TRANSPORT MECHANISM”, filed Dec. 2, 2005, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/293,397, entitled “HEATED TIRE BUILDING CORE ASSEMBLY AND METHOD”, filed Dec. 2, 2005, disclose one such segmented core. In using such a core for the construction of a tire it is necessary to manipulate the core and tire from station to station in a tire curing line. An efficient apparatus for accomplishing core and tire manipulation is, accordingly, desired.